Purdue offers new series of online courses in health care technology

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University is offering a new series of three online engineering courses to students aspiring to a career in the health care industry and people currently employed in the field.

The first course in this series, available now, focuses on health care delivery, including how new medical technologies are evaluated and applied in the clinical setting. The second course provides a broad overview of medical technology development and addresses the concepts of unmet clinical need, idea creation, funding, reimbursement, cost-effectiveness and several other topics. The third course offers a deeper assessment of the medical device industry, one of the two major medical technology subsectors. 

Dr. William Clark, professor of practice in Purdue’s Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, is leading the development of these courses. Clark is both a chemical engineer and nephrologist (kidney specialist) by training and spent more than 20 years in the medical device field, specifically the dialysis industry. His own experience in the health care industry was the motivation for developing the courses.

“I have observed that engineers and scientists working in traditional functions, such as manufacturing or research and development, can benefit from gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the manner in which their specific companies operate, along with deeper knowledge of industrywide trends and developments,” Clark said. “In addition, gaining an appreciation of basic principles that apply to most medical technologies, including patient-related considerations, development costs, product life cycle and reimbursement, can be very helpful.”

Clark said the courses address these issues while providing an opportunity for both new entrants and professionals already working in biomedical and health care positions to extend their technical knowledge, potentially accelerating career advancement.      

The initial course in the series, Analytical Approach to Health Care Delivery, is being offered for the first time online this summer beginning Monday (June 15). Students can enroll in the subsequent two courses (Medical Devices: Development and Clinical Application and Advances in Medical Technology) in the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters.

With an emphasis on medical devices, a health care technology concentration composed of these courses is being developed and will be offered within the Purdue online Interdisciplinary Engineering Master’s program. In addition, a series of classes being developed by Gintaras Reklaitis, the Burton and Kathryn Gedge Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Alina Alexeenko, professor of chemical engineering, will allow students to focus on pharmaceutical engineering.

Pharmaceutical engineering includes the design and operation of processes for pharmaceutical active ingredients and the design and manufacturing of the associated pharmaceutical products, including the most common dosage forms in which medicines are administered – tablets, capsules, inhalables, and injectables. This means the collaboration between the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering and Purdue Online will serve the needs of students interested in either or both of the largest technology subsectors within health care.

In addition to offering these courses as part of the master’s program, their content is adaptable to meet the needs of corporate clients. The Purdue College of Engineering and Purdue Online have extensive experience in transforming academic course material to content more focused on applied learning in a corporate environment.

“The information comprising these health care technology courses is particularly adaptable to fit learning programs tailored to the needs of pharmaceutical and medical device companies,” Clark said.  

Learn more and register for the Analytical Approach to Health Care Delivery course.

Writer: Greg Kline, 765-494-8167, gkline@purdue.edu 

Source: William Clark, 765-494-4050, clarkw@purdue.edu